Evaluation of physical activity programmes for the elderly - exploring the lessons from other sectors and examining the general characteristics of the programmes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Portugal, there are several physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people developed by the local government. The importance of these programmes has been increasing since the evidence has shown that this type of health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. However, no study has already identified the general characteristics of these programmes nor if they use any scheme to assess the quality of the service provided. A widely-used scheme is the EFQM Excellence Model, which will be in the core of our present work. Thus, the main aims of this preliminary study were 1) to identify the general characteristics of the PA programmes developed by the Portuguese Local Public Administration 2) to determine the extent of implementation of quality initiatives in these programmes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected by an on-line questionnaire sent to all Continental Municipalities (n = 278). Categorical data were expressed as absolute counts and percentages. Continuous data were expressed as the mean and SD. An open-ended question was analysed using qualitative content analysis with QSR NVivo software. Associations between categorical variables were tested by the use of contingency tables and the calculation of chi-square tests. Significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed: i) a total of 125 PA programmes were identified in the 18 districts of the Portugal mainland; ii) the main goal of the majority (95.2%) was the participants' health promotion; iii) different characteristics of the programmes were found according to different regions of the country; iv) certain characteristics of the programmes were associated to the existence of other features; v) only one PA programme developed quality initiatives.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, although there are many PA programmes for elderly people spread throughout the country, aiming at improving the health of participants, the overwhelming majority does not adopt quality control initiatives. Considering that the quality of a service increases customer satisfaction, the continuous quality improvement of the PA programmes for elderly people should therefore be implemented since they can be useful and critical for elderly satisfaction and adherence.</p

A comunicação no processo da hospitalização do imigrante japonês La comunicación en el proceso de la hospitalización del inmigrante japonés Communication during the hospitalization of Japanese immigrant patients

A comunicação-verbal e não-verbal-no processo da hospitalização é um importante caminho para um novo olhar e agir dos profissionais de enfermagem. Partindo do pressuposto que a compreensão da doença e da hospitalização pode ser prejudicada pelo não entedimento da língua portuguesa, realizamos o presente estudo, que objetivou conhecer a importância da comunicação para o imigrante japonês durante o seu processo de hospitalização. Para desvelar a experiência vivida optamos pela pesquisa qualitativa com abordagem fenomenológica. Entrevistamos 17 pacientes imigrantes japoneses em um hospital na cidade de São Paulo. Resultados mostraram que a dificuldade com o idioma português interfere na compreensão da doença, do tratamento e no relacionamento com a equipe de saúde, fazendo suscitar o sentimento de insegurança, e que a cultura realmente exerce influência importante no comportamento e atitudes desses imigrantes japoneses em relação à doença e hospitalização.<br>La comunicación-verbal y no-verbal-en el proceso de la hospitalización es un importante camino para una nueva observación y acción de los profesionales de la enfermería. A partir del supuesto de que la comprensión de la enfermedad y de la hospitalización puede ser perjudicada por el no entendimiento del idioma portugués, realizamos el presente estudio para el inmigrante japonés durante su proceso de hospitalización. Para desvelar la experiencia vivida optamos por la investigación cualitativa con abordaje fenomenológico. Fueron entrevistados 17 pacientes inmigrantes japoneses en un hospital de la ciudad de São Paulo. Los resultados mostraron que la dificultad con el idioma portugués interfiere en la comprensión de la enfermedad, tratamiento y en la relación con el equipo de salud del hospital, haciendo nacer el sentimiento de inseguridad. La cultura realmente ejerce una influencia importante en el comportamiento y las actitudes de esos inmigrantes japoneses en relación a la enfermedad y su hospitalización.<br>Communication-verbal or non-verbal-during hospitalization is an important tool to provide a new way of looking and acting to nursing professionals. Based on the consideration that the understanding about the disease and hospitalization can be impaired due to the difficulty in understanding the Portuguese language, the authors carried out the present study aiming at evaluating the importance of the communication during hospitalization. In order to unveil the experience of these subjects, the authors developed a qualitative investigation with a phenomenological approach. Authors interviewed 17 Japanese immigrants at a hospital in the city of São Paulo. Results showed that the difficulty in speaking Portuguese interfered in the patients' understanding about the disease, its treatment and the relationship with the health team, enhancing the feeling of insecurity and demonstrating that culture does play an important role on these patients' behavior and attitudes concerning the disease and hospitalization

Intergenerational representations of schistosomiasis in endemic area, Jaboticatubas, Minas Gerais

The analysis of the intergenerational process of disease/health representations constitutes a requisite for the construction of projects and health education interventions. The objective of this work is to describe the meaning attributed to schistosomiasis in the family context. Twenty-one residents of an endemic area were interviewed. The interviews were submitted to content analysis. The results demonstrated different representations of the disease by the children, parents and grandparents. This paper discusses the differences in these representations and its impact in schistosomiasis control programs